Today’s dynamic yet fast-paced environment has made the world adapt to changes that are proving to be disadvantageous for the environment. The food and water waste generated by the hospitality sector has been concerning however, some corners of the world have presented themselves as change-makers. It is apparent that distillery-generated wastewater could be used to produce sustainable green hydrogen, as made clear by scientists at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University.
Through the use of renewable sources of energy and procedures like cooling and cleaning, the Academics have made progress and developed an approach to transform the wastewater into clean and green hydrogen. Currently, the annual consumption of fresh water exceeds 20 billion litres. Whisky, being Scotland’s greatest exports, the distilleries there account for a stand-alone figure of almost one billion litre of wastewater annually. Ultra-modern technology has made possible the breakthrough discovery of the nanoparticle – ‘Nickel Selenide’ by a team of materials scientists, led by Dr. Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu in Heriot-Watt’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. With the help of this nanoparticle, the wastewater is treated in a way that it goes through the process of electrolysis that clears it of substances and produces hydrogen. After multiple experiments, it was found out that the treated wastewater could also produce higher quantities of green hydrogen if compared with fresh water.
According to Dr. Pitchaimuthu “It takes 9kg of water to produce every 1kg of green hydrogen. Meanwhile, every one litre of malt whisky production creates about 10 litres of residue. To help protect the planet, we need to reduce our use of freshwater and other natural resources, so our research focused on how to use this distillery wastewater for green hydrogen production with a simple process that removes waste materials present in the water.” It is based on their research and paper written by Dr. Pitchaimuthu’s PhD student, Michael Walsh, who served as a key player under his guidance and contributed substantially in his research which is published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Sustainable Energy & Fuels, in a paper entitled “From brew to clean fuel : harnessing distillery wastewater for electrolysis H2 generation using nanoscale nickel selenide water oxidation catalysts.”
Dr. Pitchaimuthu explained, “About one billion litres of wastewater a year is produced from the distilling industry, so the potential of this process is huge. Using industry wastewater means we can reduce the extensive freshwater footprint associated with green hydrogen production. Our research also shows how we can use the world’s resources more sustainably to produce clean energy.” The research has in turn encouraged the team to go beyond their perspectives and find ways to produce other valuable materials apart from hydrogen and oxygen. An independent electrolysed prototype is in the making to expand their production of nickel selenide nanoparticles, thereby constituting an increased focus on distillery wastewater and its analysis. In collaboration with the University of Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering and the Scotch Whisky Research Institute in the end, that is also involved in the research across the Scotch whisky production procedure, the research was funded by Heriot-Watt’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. The revelation presents itself as an example of advancement in a world grappling through ways to sustain in an unsustainable environment.
